Craftsy Classes for $19.99!

Over the weekend Craftsy was running a sale on classes, but the storms on the East Coast knocked out their servers. So they decided to extend the sale for one more day, meaning you can get a great deal on knitting classes (or any other crafty classes you might want to take) if you buy before midnight tonight.

All classes are just $19.99, down from the usual $39.99 (at least all the knitting classes are usually $39.99; prices usually range from $9.99 to $49.99, depending on the class).

In the knitting category there are now 20 classes, everything from toy knitting with Susan B. Anderson to fitting your knits with Stefanie Japel. There are classes on toe-up and cuff-down socks from Donna Druchunas, a class on plus-size knitting with Marly Bird and classes on short rows, lace knitting and entrelac, to name a few.

I have started but not finished a couple of classes on Craftsy (Japel’s “Fit Your Knits” and “How to Say it: Pattern Writing for Knitters” with Edie Eckman) and I find them to be really interesting and the video is a good format for visual things like knitting. I’ve got my eye on a photography class for crafters, and there are also great classes for other crafts including sewing, crocheting, weaving, paper crafts and even cake decorating.

Have you ever taken a Craftsy class? What did you think? Spill it!

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

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